pierced5

iTrader: (1)

Assembling the goods for an upgrade and I am still undecided whether I should use a set of Nazar's door pods or go with custom kick panels. My local installer quoted me $250 for a pair of finished kicks for my Diamond Audio components, but I will lose the dead pedal. For those who have given up the use of the dead pedal, do you find it an inconvenience or worth the sacrifice?
I tried driving to work this morning and back home this evening without using the dead pedal and found my foot creeping back over. Opinions please.

THE TECH

iTrader: (154)

I have the Nazar door pods. I would not give up more space by my feet for kick pods. I bump the door pods from time to time getting in and out of the car. I'll bet you'll beat those kick pods up pretty good unless you're ultra careful.

superppwZ33

iTrader: (9)

i started with kicks and now i have door pods

driving with kicks is really not a big deal, it will take a week or so to adjust.

imaging and midbass is better with kicks(as long as they are well made) vs door pods

even with door pods i still end up resting my foot as if i have kicks(in time i guess i'll adjust)

overall i'm happy with the change since i upgraded big time from mb quart q series to polk audio sr 6500

Mikey-Z

iTrader: (2)

bing (16psibrick) hooked me up with some kicks with dls comps. Sounds great.

I thought losing the dead pedal would be an annoying issue but I adjusted after about 2 days. For some reason you just kind of avoid it without thinking after awhile.

I can't speak for the doorpods though cuz i've never had them, but like someone said, kick location has really good imaging on the Zs.

"Z"orilla

iTrader: (1)

I would go with the door pods. I have NAZAR's and they are high quality stuff. The imaging is fine with the pods. I wouldn't go any other way. Here are mine.

KelekonaKustoms

iTrader: (9)

you cant go wrong with either of them, just dont stick your new speakers back in the stock location. I personally have the pods and dont have a problem with kicking them, i know the kick panels wouldnt last a week with me. as far as imaging and sound goes, i think my pods do just fine. my system sounds great, but i also have an extra set of tweeters in the sail panels

Paul350Z

iTrader: (1)

I have feet on the ends of my legs so I need holes down at the bottom of the car to put them in.

I have yet to find a single home stereo system which mounts the tweeters at foot level either. I probably have seen 500 or more speaker designs and none of them are designed with the tweeters down low. In fact for best imagining you need to mount the tweeters at ear level. You also have to control the early reflections of the tweeters (again those dang feet at the bottom of my legs) and the interior of a car just ain't the place to even begin to attempt to do that.

Home speaker manufacturers do time alignment, remove edges to control defraction, and give careful instructions on how to place their speakers for best performance. Car stereo installers stick them in the locations where they best fit.

THE TECH

iTrader: (154)

^^True dat!

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

i have installed and done both, and i will say this:

in the Z:

kicks, if they are well built, becareful on that price, and make sure your installer is competant, i have seen HORRIBLE kicks built that as a result, sound horrible...for example, on every kit i build:

use solid fiberglass up to 1/4" thick, and smother the inside with TONS of dampening material, and give it a semi-sealed back to avoid the midbass hump...

anyway...

with kicks in the Z, you will get: better image, staging, midbass attack
with the door pods, it will still sound better than stock for sure, and you save the leg room...

i tell everyone tha ti build kicks for that if they dont get used to the kicks in a week, come back and i will refund them and put the speakrs where ever they want for free i have yet to have anyone come back in almost 10 years...

i think paul and I will forever disagree on how kicks sound, but i think a few members i have installed kicks for can verify that the sound comes from dash and eye level, NOT down by your feel...

b

pierced5

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the opinion, I will be seeing my installer tomorrow and I will definitely inquire as to the finished thickness of the fiberglass and also discuss how he plans to finish the rear (sealed / semi-sealed). As for price, I think the price is based on the fact that I was recommended to him by a friend. The first thing I asked was to see some of his glass/fabricaiton work so that I could judge the level of finish for myself.
I still have not made up my mind though, but I will keep posting as the project advances, including pics when available.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

good deal...

remember to make sure its thick, and dampening REALLY matters inside the kick, dampening material, or clay should be used, or else you may get some nasty resonances at certain midrange freq, and, usually, if they do fully sealed, you will get a big build up of midbass freq at around 100-200, whcih sounds boomy, a good eq will take care of it, but if you dont have such an eq, leaving the back semi opened (i cut a hole and then put a layer of semi-permiable carpet across to act as a breathable barrier) cure that problem right away.

good luck!

b

12AutoX

iTrader: (7)

The reason the tweets are mounted in the kicks is because that is where they are closest to being equidistant from your ears. I have yet to drive a car (even a '77 Buick) where you can mount your speakers 7 feet apart from each other and 7-10 feet in front of the listener where they should be.

I guess if you set up your home system to where one tweeter is by your ear, the woofer shoots into your leg, and the other speakers are across the room, you can get similar results to your car audio system with factory mounting locations.

jdohman

iTrader: (1)

I have personally done both. The kicks will provide better staging and a overall better sound. They are harder to adjust with but only take a few days.

rotaryrocket7

I have both due to having a dynaudio 3-way setup. The 7's are in the door pods and I built kicks for the mid (I think 4") and tweeter. The staging is perfect. The main reason went with kicks was to mount the speakers as close to each other as possible. By moving the tweeters up to ear level you impact the timing, and although my stereo corrects for left/right timing, it does not adjust components seperately. I personally have heard a few other Z's with systems that maintained the stock mounting location for the tweeters and I didn't like the imaging

dannichols

Superb setup. My findings too..get the components as close to one another as possible and as equal distance from the ears as you can.

pierced5

iTrader: (1)

Well, I made my decision and went with the kicks. Spent a few hours at the shop yesterday so my installer could set up the drivers side (multiple interruptions). So far, so good.
As for the dead pedal, we were able to keep it in play. Hope everything works out as planned.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

sounds great, keep us updated...if your isntaller can some how do a set of kicks, and keep the dead pedal and acutally have it be usable, please provide pics i have yet to figure it out

i can do kicks that are more on axis and save the dead pedal, but the sepakers would block them out anyway so i go with off axis design that saves the most amount of leg room

b

pierced5

iTrader: (1)

Talked to my installer this morning and he has the drivers side kick ready for final fit and finishing. I will be going over tomorrow to complete this step.
I have spent the last 5 hours in my garage installing Raam Mat in the trunk area and all I can say is man what a pain in the A$$. Very tedious work, and I still have to remove the seats and carpet up front to do that area. I will also be laying down 1/8" neoprene after the matting.

16psibrick

iTrader: (10)

yup, now you know why installers, including my self, hate dampening on a large scale and why it costs quite a bit when you pay a shop to do it properly

good luck with the kicks! let us know how it goes!

b

pierced5

iTrader: (1)

I picked up the drivers side kick panel and would like to post pics, but I am not sure how. Can someone fill me in on how to post pics?